Unprecedented flooding covered hundreds of city blocks in Cedar Rapids as officials urged residents to limit their water use to drinking, according to the municipality's website.

In the state capital Des Moines, population 200,000, public works crews and Iowa National Guard soldiers raced to build a berm after a levee breached in the early hours of Saturday.

The University of Iowa, based in Iowa City, cancelled classes until June 22 as the flood threatened its dorms, research facilities, library and art museum. The university urged employees to work from home if possible or consider volunteering in the emergency relief efforts.

"This has been a very trying week for our state," Iowa Governor Chet Culver said in a statement. "Responding to a crisis like this takes the cooperation of everyone, from the federal government down to the local communities."

Extreme weather has left at least 15 dead and thousands homeless in the state in recent days, said Bret Voorhees, spokesman for the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Five others were killed in other parts of the Midwestern United States.

Two people were killed by floodwaters in Indiana and two delivery people drowned Sunday when their car fell off a washed out road into a flooded creek, the National Weather Service said.

Another person was killed Wednesday when a tornado ripped through the town of Chapman, Kansas.

The disaster began when a major tornado struck on May 25. It was followed by heavy rains, with more thunderstorms expected this weekend, and on Wednesday another twister touched ground in western Iowa, killing four boy scouts.

Serious flooding has hit the entire region, including parts of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and was expected to continue through next week.

"We're trapped with nowhere to go," said Gloria Hines, who lives about a dozen blocks from where the river spilled over in Cedar Rapids.

The floodwaters had not reached her home yet, but the street was made impassable by water gushing out of storm drains. A few small fish spilled out of the contaminated sewage ways.

Torrential rains Thursday left downriver towns preparing for the worst and the National Guard called in to help an army of volunteers with sandbagging and rescue efforts.

"Our predictions of a 100-year flood, or greater, are really coming to pass," said Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey.

A boat ride through Cedar Rapid's water-logged downtown saw every branch of government crippled by the floods.

The library, the federal building and city hall were all filled with water, which rippled through basements and pulled files and furniture out through the windows.

Inmates in the county jail were evacuated along with their mattresses.

On one building, clutching the cats that nearly cost them their lives, perched Charles Schmitt, 19, and girlfriend Kayla Lambreacht.

They had fled their nearby home when the basement filled with water. But when they stopped to take a picture one of the cats jumped into the river, prompting Schmitt to go in after it, and his girlfriend to follow.

Clutching two storage bins that Lambreacht tossed into the water, they floated for 45 minutes before they found a building to climb into.

"We kept calling 911 but the phone went out," Schmitt said. "We were up there for two hours."

DES MOINES, Iowa - The American Red Cross said on Monday that its Disaster Relief Fund is wiped out and it's being forced to borrow money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest.

Jeff Towers, the organization's chief development officer, said the balance for domestic disaster relief efforts is zero. He said the American Red Cross would borrow to keep workers and volunteers in the field helping flood victims.

"The Red Cross remains committed to providing the scale of services that people expect of the Red Cross when disaster strikes, and the way that we are doing that right now is taking out loans to fund our response," he said during a conference call from Washington. "That's not a position we want to be in; it's obviously not sustainable."

The shortage in the organization's only domestic disaster relief fund comes as it continues flood relief efforts in soaked Iowa and ramps up its work downstream in Illinois and Missouri as more flooding is expected there. Officials said the Red Cross has 2,500 workers on the ground, 89 percent of them volunteers.

Joe Becker, senior vice president of disaster services, said the fund has been depleted over the past few years in the absence of large-scale disasters that bring attention to the relevance of the Red Cross.

"We have had a large number of mid-size disasters or silent disasters that have cost us a considerable amount of money where we've not been able to raise what it's cost us to provide that service," he said.

So far, he said the flood response in the Midwest has cost about $15 million, and Towers said it could reach as high as about $40 million.

"That's putting this in the category of a very significant disaster for the Red Cross, historically, when you would look at what we spend on relief efforts," Becker said.

Towers said the organization has raised only about $3.2 million toward the flooding response. He said it's an especially difficult time to seek funds with a troubled economy and many previous givers now reaching an age that they are on a fixed income.

He said much of what the Red Cross can expect to spend will depend on what happens down river.

"Frankly, the wild card is whether St. Louis floods or how significantly St. Louis floods," Becker said, adding that the crest there is expected to be 39 feet, about 10 feet lower than in 1993. "We're taking that as good news."

BlueAngel

06-17-2008, 03:11 PM

Another levee break.

The rising Mississippi threatens thousands of acres of Farmland in Gulfport, Illinois.

If our military was not USED by the powers that be to protect and confiscate their interests abroad, perhaps they would be here in the U.S. providing humanitarian assistance to the people in this country who are in need.

This bill, expected to pass on Thursday, will pave the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the midwest.

How pathetic is that?

The $162 billion dollar war funding bill had to be approved in order to provide relief to the American citizen's in the midwest.

The cost of the war thus far in Iraq and Afghanistan is into the 600 billion dollar range.

Excuse my stupidity.

But, the Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air.

They're going to print $162 billion dollars to fund the war and somehow, someway the DEFICIT, the funding for this war is the burden of the American people?

We don't repay this debt/deficit.

They want us to think that we are in debt, our children are in debt, our grandchildren will be in debt to THEM.

They print money out of thin air.

It's all a sham.

They pretend that when a funding bill is passed, that somehow, someway, the CONGRESS has accomplished something for the American people.

Like the people in the midwest who need relief.

It's all a sham.

The President wants $162 billion and Congress wants a few million for our people.

Tit for tat.

It's a sham.

The banksters PRINT billions for their overseas operations and they print as little as possible for health and welfare of the citizen's of the United State's of America.

They print money out of thin air and could print enough money right now to solve all of the world's problems.

But, they won't because they own the Federal Reserve which is a privately owned organization headed by the Jewish Cabal and they print billions to fund their "rogue" operations and very little to promote the health, safety and welfare of the United State's of America and her citizens.

WASHINGTON - President Bush would win $162 billion in long-overdue funding to carry out military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into next year under a bipartisan agreement sealed on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

The agreement reached between House Democrats and Republicans and the White House — if passed into law as expected — would finally put to rest Bush's long-standing battles with congressional Democrats over war funding.

House passage of the bill, expected Thursday, would also pave the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest, a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for the longtime jobless and a big boost in GI Bill college for veterans.

The latest installment of war funding would bring to well over $600 billion the amount of money provided by Congress to conduct the unpopular war in Iraq. It would also give Bush's successor several months to set Iraq policy after taking office in January — and spares lawmakers the need to cast another war-related vote closer to Election Day.

House Democratic and Republican leaders announced the agreement Wednesday afternoon. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., withheld an outright endorsement but through a spokesman praised several key elements of the deal.

"This is an agreement that has been worked out in a bipartisan way that I think is acceptable to both most Democrats and most Republicans," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

"It meets the needs of the troops; it doesn't tie the hands of commanders in the field," Nussle said. He also said the spending levels in the bill stayed within Bush's demands. The latter claim was a stretch since the measure will carry new GI Bill benefits, as well as additional unemployment payments that Bush had threatened to veto.

But the agreement drops restrictions on Bush's ability to conduct the war and gives him almost all of the funding he sought well over a year ago for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The White House — and Capitol Hill Republicans — had signaled greater flexibility in recent weeks after Democrats orchestrated impressive votes to more than double GI Bill college benefits and give a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for people whose benefits have run out.

In late-stage talks, Democrats dropped a provision to pay for the GI college benefits by imposing a half-percentage point income tax surcharge on incomes exceeding $500,000 for singles and incomes over $1 million earned by married couples. They also dropped a plan to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with particularly high unemployment rates.

Democrats and governors across the country emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled.

The war funding bill had bedeviled Democratic leaders for months. Its passage has become more urgent with looming furloughs next month of civilian employees and contract workers.

Conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats are upset that the new GI Bill benefits, with costs tentatively estimated at $62 billion over the next decade, will be added to the deficit instead of being "paid for" as called for under House rules.

"We know the day of reckoning is coming," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., who called the measure "totally irresponsible."

The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of World War II and more than doubles the value of the benefit — from $40,000 today to $90,000.

Full details of the nuts and bolts of the measure won't be released until Thursday.

But Nussle said the measure would provide $2.6 billion in additional disaster aid to replenish accounts already being tapped to deal with the terrible flooding across the Midwest.

It also contains $5.8 billion sought by Bush for next year to build levees and other flood control projects around New Orleans.

The bill is slated to be considered under an unusual procedure in which funding for the war would be voted on separately from the GI Bill, unemployment insurance extension and other domestic measures, such as additional funding for the glitch-plagued 2010 census.

The procedural setup allows anti-war Democrats to avoid votes to fund the war while still ensuring the money advances to Bush on his terms. In a vote last month, House Democrats tried to force Bush to begin troops withdrawals within 30 days with a goal of full withdrawal of combat troops within 18 months. The Senate easily killed the idea.

BlueAngel

06-19-2008, 07:01 AM

I understand that we pay the Banksters back with interest when we finance our homes, use THEIR credit cards, etc.

If we are in debt to them for the WAR and every other green back they print out of thin air to assist our country, obviously every penny that THEY steal from us when we pay our FEDERAL income taxes goes toward the repayment of this debt and, therefore, there isn't any money left over to FUND anything else in our country.

Robbers and barons.

Third world country.

Depression.

BlueAngel

06-19-2008, 05:20 PM

It's Thursday.

I suppose BUSH received his billions for the war and FINALLY headed out to IOWA promising billions to the suffering.

Citizens of Iowa: That's what you get for starting the political ball rolling for Barack O'Bama. Just in case you thought that George Bush and his maniacal bunch of technocrats weren't able to harness the weather for devious, destructive means. Take that !!!